cie as-level psychology 9990 - papacambridge · 2020. 5. 2. · the scenes ranged from a rating of...
TRANSCRIPT
SUMMARIZED NOTES ON THE CORE STUDIES
CIE AS-LEVELPSYCHOLOGY 9990
ZNOTES // A-LEVEL SERIESvisit www.znotes.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
CHAPTER 1
Biological Approach
10 CHAPTER 2
Cognitive Approach
18 CHAPTER 3
Learning Approach
25 CHAPTER 4
Social Approach
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1. BIOLOGICAL APPROACH
• Main assumptions of the biological approach:
o Behaviour, cognition and emotions can be explained in
terms of the working of the brain and the effect of
hormones
o Similarities and differences between people can be
understood in terms of biological factors and their
interaction with other factors
1.1 Canli et al. (brain scans and emotions) • Title: Event-Related Activation in the Human Amygdala
Associates with Later Memory for Individual Emotional
Experiences
• Year: 2000
• Psychology being investigated:
o There are two types of basic medical scans - structural
and functional scans. Structural scans take detailed
pictures of the structure of the brain whereas
Functional scans are able to show activity levels in
different areas of the brain.
o Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a
neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that
measures brain activity by detecting changes
associated with blood flow.
o fMRI is a non-invasive brain scanning technique. It
uses radio waves coupled with a strong magnetic field
to create a very detailed image of the brain.
o The scanner traces the journey of strong oxygenated
blood around the brain. Areas of high activity receive
more oxygenated blood. This is called the blood-
oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal.
o The scanner maps all of the activity and produces a
map of squares called voxels which represent
thousands of neurons. The pictures are colour coded to
show the intensity if activity.
o The amygdala is an almond-shaped set of neurons
located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe and
has been shown to play a key role in the processing of
emotions such as pleasure, fear, and anger.
• Background
o Imaging studies have shown that amygdala activation
correlates with emotional memory in the intact brain.
o These first imaging studies have identified a
correlation between amygdala activation and
declarative memory for emotional stimuli across
different individuals. This could be for three reasons:
1. Some individuals are more responsive to
emotional experiences than others.
2. Some individuals, during a particular scanning
session, may have been in some sort of state
that enhanced responsiveness to emotional
experience.
3. The amygdala is responsive in a dynamic or
phasic way to moment-to-moment individual
emotional experience, so that amygdala
activation would reflect a flexible, rapidly
changing emotional response that ought to be
observable within an individual.
• Aims
o To investigate whether an area of the brain called the
amygdala is sensitive to different levels to emotions
based on subjective emotional experiences.
o To investigate whether the degree of emotional
intensity affects the role of the amygdala in aiding
memory recall of stimuli classes as being “emotional”.
• Procedure
o Research method: Laboratory experiment
o Experimental design: Repeated Measures Design
o Independent Variable (IV): Intensity rating of stimuli
o Dependent Variable (DV): pixel count and percentage
forgotten, familiar or remembered in tests
o Sample: Ten right-handed healthy female volunteers
were participants of this study. Females were chosen
as the are more likely to report intense emotional
experiences and show more physiological reactivity in
concordance with valance judgements than men.
o Sampling technique: Volunteer Sampling
o The procedure for this experiment was divided into
the behavioural procedure and the MRI.
Behavioural procedure:
o During scanning, participants were shown 96 scenes
through a mirror directed at a back-projection screen.
o Each of these scenes had a normative rating for
arousal and valance from the International Affective
Picture System stimuli set.
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o The scenes ranged from a rating of 1.17 (highly
negative) to 5.44 (neutral) for valence, and, 1.97
(tranquil) to 7.63 (highly arousing) for arousal.
o The order of the scenes was randomised across
participants.
o Each scene was shown for a period of 2.88 seconds.
There was an interstimulus interval of 12.96 seconds
during which the participants viewed a fixation cross.
o Participants were instructed to view the entire picture
for the time it was shown and as soon as the cross
appeared, they were to rate the scene by pressing the
relevant button with their right hand. The rating scale
for emotional arousal ranged from 0 = not emotionally
intense at all, to 3 = extremely emotionally intense.
o Three weeks after the scan, participants were tested in
an unexpected recognition test, during which they
viewed all the previously seen scenes and 48 new ones
(foils).
o The foils matched the valance and arousal ratings of
the original scenes. The normative rating for valance
ranged from as 1.31 (highly negative) to 5.78 (neutral)
and the normative rating for arousal ranged from 2.74
(tranquil) to 7.22 (highly arousing).
o During the recognition test, participants were asked if
they remembered the scene. If they did, they were
asked whether they remembered it with certainty,
coded as “remembered”, or if they had a less certain
feeling of familiarity, coded as “familiar”.
o Forgotten, familiar and remembered trials were
encoded in numerical format to construct correlational
maps.
MRI:
o Data was acquired in a 1.5 T General Electric Signa MR
imager, which was used to measure BOLD contrast.
o For structural images, eight slices perpendicular to the
axial plane of the hippocampus were obtained.
o The anterior slice was positioned 7 mm anterior to the
amygdala.
o Functional images were obtained using a two-
dimensional spin echo sequence with two interleaves.
o A whole-head coil was used for all participants.
o Head movement was minimised by a bite bar using
which was formed with each participant’s dental
imprints.
o During functional scanning, 11 frames were captured
per trial.
o Individual frames in each trial were assigned to either
the baseline fixation period (frames 1, 2, 10 and 11) or
the activation period (frames 5-8).
o A correlational map was created to correlate brain
activity with participants’ arousal ratings and memory
scores.
• Results
o Individual’s experience of emotional intensity in the present study correlated well with normative rating on emotional valance and arousal.
o The average correlations coefficients between participants’ intensity ratings and normative ratings were -0.66 and 0.68.
o Amygdala activation was significantly, bilaterally correlated with higher ratings of individually experienced emotional intensity.
o Participants’ ratings of emotional intensity were similarly distributed across the four categories with 0 being 29%, 1 being 22%, 2 being 24% and 3 being 25%.
o Memory recall was significantly better for those scenes rated as emotionally intense. Scenes rated 0-2 had similar distributions of percentage forgotten, familiar or remembered. However, those rated 3 were rated familiar or remembered with a higher frequency.
o For scenes rated highly emotional, the degree of left amygdala activation predicted whether an individual stimulus would be forgotten, familiar or remembered in a later memory test. Little activation to a scene that was rated as being highly emotional was associated with forgetting that scene; intermediate activation indicated that the scene was familiar; high activation was associated by the scene being remembered. o When the left amygdala was analysed further, there
was a significant correlation between emotional
intensity and the amygdala’s activation.
• Conclusions
o This study found that amygdala activation is sensitive
to individually experienced emotional intensity of
discrete visual stimuli.
o Additionally, it found that activity in the left amygdala
during encoding is predictive of subsequent memory.
o It was also concluded that the degree to which the
amygdala activation at encoding can predict
subsequent memory is a function of emotional
intensity.
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• Ethical Issues
o Participants were exposed to emotionally charged
imager which may have stressed them. There is no
record of participants being exposed to “happier”
imagery in order to alleviate any negative mental state
they were found in.
• Strengths
o This is a laboratory experiment and hence has a
standardised procedure and it can easily be tested for
reliability.
o The study has many controls and hence the
researchers can be more confident in establishing a
causal relationship.
o The study collects quantitative data which allows the
researchers to carry out statistical and correlational
analyses.
o There are low chances of participants responding to
demand characteristics increasing the validity of the
data.
o Using fMRI scanners provides objective data.
o This was a repeated measures design hence the
chances of participant variables affecting the findings is
lower.
• Weaknesses
o The study involves task that aren’t done in daily life
and hence has a low mundane realism.
o The sample contains only females and is a small
number hence has a low generalizability, reducing the
validity of the study.
o The study has only quantitative data and this does not
explain the participant’s reasons for choosing a
particular rating.
o The correlational analysis only suggests a relationship
between the two factors and cannot establish a
reliable causal relationship.
• Issues and Debates
o Application to daily life: The findings may be useful for
advertising agencies.
o Nature versus Nurture: Findings of this study support
the nature side of this debate, however, as experiences
are not taken into account, nurture could have cause
the results.
1.2 Dement and Kleitman (sleep and
dreams) • Title: The Relation of Eye Movements During Sleep To
Dream Activity: An Objective Method for the Study of
Dreaming
• Year: 1957
• Psychology being investigated:
o Our body follows two types of sleep: REM (rapid eye
movement) sleep and nREM (non-rapid eye
movement) sleep.
o nREM can be divided into 4 sleep stages.
o In REM sleep, our eyes move rapidly under the lids.
o Aserinsky and Klietman’s (1995) study: they observed
periods of rapid, conjugate eye movements during
sleep and found a high incidence of dream recall in
awakening participants during these periods and a low
incidence when awakened at other times.
o REM sleep is known as paradoxical sleep. It resembles
wakefulness as our eyes move, we often experience
vivid (bizarre) thoughts in the form of dreams and our
brains are active. However, it is different from
wakefulness as it is difficult to wake up, we are fairly
insensitive to stimuli and paralysed.
• Background
o Sleep and dreaming are clearly hard to investigate because the participant is necessarily asleep and so cannot communicate with the researcher. Even when awake, only self-report data can be obtained about dream content, which alone may be invalid as it is subjective.
o The electro-encephalograph (EEG) monitors the electrical activity of the brain.
o The electrooculogram (EOG) allowed the electrical recording of eye-movement patterns, their presence or absence, their size and direction (vertical or horizontal).
o The EEG detects and records tiny electrical charges associated with nerve and muscle activity.
o In REM sleep, EEG is relatively low voltage/amplitude and high frequency.
o In nREM sleep, EEG has either high voltage/amplitude and slow (low frequency) waves or frequent ‘sleep spindles’ which are short-lived high voltage, high frequency waves.
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• Aims
o Overall aim: To investigate dreaming in an objective
way by looking for the relationship between eye
movements in sleep and the dreamer’s recall.
o Specific aims:
▪ To test whether dream recall differs between REM
and nREM sleep.
▪ To investigate whether there is a positive
correlation between subjective estimates of dream
duration and the length of REM period.
▪ To test whether eye-movement patterns are
related to dream content. (Whether these patterns
represent the visual experience of dream content
or whether they are simply random movements
arising from the activation of the CNS)
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory Experiment,
Observations, interviews and correlation
o Experimental design: Repeated Measures Design
o Three approaches were used to test the three specific
aims.
METHOD DESIGN
AIM 1 • Participants were
woken either from
REM or nREM
sleep, but were not
told which stage
they were in.
• They confirmed
whether they were
having a dream and
if so, reported the
content into a
recorder.
• Natural experiment in a
laboratory setting
• IV: REM or nREM sleep
stage
• DV: whether the
participants reported a
dream, and if so, the
details
AIM 2 • Participants were
woken following 5
or 15 minutes of
REM sleep.
• They were asked if
they thought they
had been dreaming
for 5 or 15 minutes.
• Their dream
narrative was
recorder and the
number of words
were counted.
• The data was used in
both experimental and
correlational designs.
• Experimental analysis: IV
- waking after 5 or 15
minutes of REM sleep.
DV - participant’s choice
• Correlational analysis:
two variables were the
participant’s time
estimate and number of
words in the dream
narrative
AIM 3 • Participants were
woken after
exhibiting a single
eye-movement
pattern for longer
than a minute.
• This was measures
using electrodes
and an EOG.
• The dream content
was recorded.
• Natural experiment in a
laboratory setting.
• IV: eye-movement
pattern type (mainly
horizontal, mainly
vertical, vertical &
horizontal, little or none)
This could not be
manipulated.
• DV: report of dream
content
o Sample: seven adult males and two adult females. Five
of them were studied intensively while the data
gathered from the other four was minimal with the
intent of confirming the results.
o Sampling technique: Opportunity sampling
o Participants studied in detail spent between 6-17
nights with 50-77 awakenings. The four others spent
only one or two nights with a total of 4-10 awakenings.
o Participants were identified by their initials to
maintain confidentiality.
o Participants reported to the lab a little before their
usual bedtime.
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o They were instructed to eat normally but to abstain
from alcoholic or caffeine-containing beverages on the
day of the experiment.
o Participants were fitted with electrodes on their scalp
and around their eyes.
o Once they were in bed in a quiet, dark room, the wires
were gathered into a “pony tail” to allow freedom of
movement.
o The EEG ran continuously to monitor the participants
sleep stages and to inform the researchers when they
should be woken up.
o Participants were woken by a doorbell that was loud
enough to rouse them from any sleep stage.
o The doorbell rung at various times during the night
and the participants indicated whether they had been
dreaming and described their dream into a voice
recorder.
o Analysis of dream narrative: This was only considered
a dream if there was a coherent, fairly detailed
description of the content. Vague, fragmentary
impressions were not scored as dreams.
• Results
Study 1:
o Participants described dreams often when woken in
REM but rarely from nREM sleep.
o When awakened in nREM, they tended to describe
feelings but these did not relate to specific dream
content.
o The waking pattern did not affect dream recall.
o Specifically, participant WD was no less accurate
despite being mislead and DN was no more accurate
even though he might have guessed the pattern of
awakenings. This showed that practice effect was not a
factor affecting the results of the experiment.
o When woken from nREM sleep, participants returned
to nREM sleep and the next REM stage was not
delayed.
o When woken from REM sleep, participants generally
did not dream until the next REM phase.
o Recall of dreams during nREM sleep was much more
likely when the participants were woken soon after the
end of an REM sleep stage.
Study 2:
o Participants’ responses were 88% accurate for 5-
minute REM duration and 78% accurate for 15-minute
REM duration.
o Although most participants were highly accurate (with
0-3 incorrect responses), DN was not. He often found
that he could only remember the end of his dream, so
it seemed shorter than it actually was.
o There was a significant positive correlation between
REM duration and number of words in dream
narrative. The r values varied between 0.40 and 0.71
for different participants.
o Dream narratives for very long durations were not
much longer than those for 15 minutes. The
participants did report that they felt as though they
had been dreaming for a long time, suggesting that
they couldn’t recall the early part of the dream.
Study 3:
o Participants could not recall the dream with such high
precision.
o Three of the nine participants showed periods of
vertical movements, and each was allied to a narrative
about vertical movement.
o One of them dreamed of standing at bottom of a tall
cliff operating a hoist. The participant reported looking
up at the climbers at various levels and down at the
hoist machinery.
o Another dreamed of climbing up a series of ladders
and looking up and down as he climbed.
o In the third one, the dreamer was throwing
basketballs in a net, first shooting them and looking up
at the net, and then looking down to pick off another
ball off the floor.
o Only one instance of pure horizontal movements was
seen. In this the participant was watching people
throwing tomatoes at each other.
o On 10 occasions, participants were awakened after
little or no eye movement. Here, they reported
watching something in distance or just staring fixedly
at some object.
o In two of these awakenings, participants’ pattern was
a minute of inactivity followed by large eye movement
to the left just a second or two before awakening.
o In one, the participant was driving a car and staring at
the road ahead. He approached an intersection and
was startled by the sudden appearance of a car
speeding at him from the left as the bell rang.
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o The other participant was also driving a car and staring
at the road ahead. Just before awakening, he saw a
man on the left side of the road and hailed him as he
drove past.
o 21 awakenings followed mixed eye movements. These
involved the participants looking at things close to
them, objects or people. There was no recall of distant
or vertical activity.
• Conclusions
o Study 1: Dreams probably occur only during REM
sleep, which occurs regularly throughout the night.
Dreams reported when woken from nREM sleep are
usually from previous REM episodes.
o Study 2: The finding that the length of an REM period
and its estimation by the participants are very similar
shows that dreams are not instantaneous events but
rather are experienced in “real time”.
o Study 3: Eye movements during REM sleep correspond
to where and at what the dreamer is looking in the
dream. This suggests that eye movements aren’t
random events caused by the activation of the central
nervous system but are directly related to dream
imagery.
• Ethical Issues
o Confidentiality of participants was maintained as they
were identified using their initials so that dream
content cannot be related to any of them.
o Protection may not have been fully provided as
participants were sleeping in unnatural situation so it
may have affected their sleep pattern or their ability to
concentrate the next day.
• Strengths
o This is a laboratory experiment and hence has a
standardised procedure and it can easily be tested for
reliability.
o The study has many controls and hence the
researchers can be more confident in establishing a
causal relationship.
• Weaknesses
o Participants had to sleep in an unusual environment
hence the study lacks ecological validity.
o Tasks performed by the participants aren’t task they
do in their daily life and hence this study has a low
mundane realism
o This study had a small sample size and hence may not
be very generalizable.
o All findings of this study are based on biological
mechanisms and hence may be seen as reductionist.
o Most of the data in this study has been collected via
self-reports which may not be very reliable as we do
not know how truthful the participants are. This could
reduce the validity of the findings.
• Issues and Debates
o Application to everyday life: The findings of this study
could be used for treating or checking for sleep
disorders.
o Nature vs Nurture: REM and nREM sleep are universal
and hence due to nature. However, the individual
differences could have been due to environmental
factors suggesting that they can affect sleeping
patterns too.
1.3 Schatcher & Singer (two factors in
emotions • Title: Cognitive, Social and Physiological Determinants of
Emotional State
• Year: 1962
• Psychology being investigated:
o Two-factor theory of emotions: the person must
experience physiological arousal and there must be a
cognitive interpretation (label) of arousal as a specific
emotion.
o When someone experiences an emotion, physiological
arousal occurs and the person uses the immediate
environment to search for cues to label the
physiological arousal. This can sometimes cause
misinterpretations of emotions based on the
physiological arousal.
o When the brain does not know why it feels an emotion
it relies on external stimulation for cues on how to
label the emotion.
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• Background:
o James Lange Theory of emotion state: ‘the same
visceral changes occur in very different emotional
states and in non-emotional states’
o An event first causes physiological arousal, we then
cognitively interpret thus arousal and then experience
the emotion.
o Cannon-Bard Theory of emotion state: we experience
physiological arousal and emotion at the same time.
One doesn’t cause the other. 1. Senses relay emotion-
provoking stimuli to the thalamus 2. Thalamus passes
information in two directions - to the cortex for
conscious experience of emotion - to internal organs
producing arousal.
o Emotions are a complex state of feeling that results in
physical and psychological changes that influence
thoughts and behavior.
• Aims:
o To investigate the role cognitive factors have in the
experience of emotion when we are in a state of
physiological arousal that has no immediate
explanation.
o When we do have an appropriate explanation for
feeling a certain emotion, to see whether we label it as
the most appropriate emotion.
o To see whether the person will react emotionally to a
certain situation based on his or her physiology even if
the cognitive elements remain the same.
• Procedure:
o Research Method: Laboratory Experiment, observation
and questionnaires
o Experimental Design: Independent Measures Design
o Independent Variable: Description of injection &
physiological effects
o Dependent Variable: Measures of pulse rate, self-
ratings of side effects and behaviours seen during
observation
o Sample: 184 male students from the University of
Minnesota’s introductory Psychology course. Around
90% of these students volunteered to be part of
studies. They received 2 extra points in their final
examination for every hour they took part in an
experiment.
o All participants were cleared by the student health
service to check that they would not be harmed by the
injection given in this study.
o Sampling technique: Volunteer Sampling
o The experiment was cast in the framework of a study
of the effects of vitamin supplements on vision
o When the participant arrived, he was taken to a private
room where the experimenter briefed him about the
experiment and asked if he would mind receiving a
Suproxin (name given to the drug) injection. [Only 1 in
185 students didn’t agree]
o After that the experimenter continued with
instructions and then left. The physician entered,
repeated the experimenter’s instructions and then
injected the participant with Suproxin.
o There were 2 forms of suproxin - placebo or
epinephrine
o Epinephrine (adrenaline) is a sympathomimetic drug
whose effects are a perfect mimicry of a discharge of
the sympathetic nervous system.
o Symptoms of epinephrine: palpitations, tremors,
feeling of flushing and accelerated breathing. (The
effects begin after 3 minutes and last from 10 minutes
to 1 hour)
o The placebo was a saline solution
o The participants were then put in 1 of 4 experimental
conditions:
o Epinephrine Informed: Participants were told that the
side effects of Suproxin are transitory (last for 15-20
minutes only). The side effects were described as hand
shaking, heart pounding and face getting warm and
flushed. (the true side effects)
o Epinephrine Ignorant: Participants were told that there
are no side effects to this drug.
o Epinephrine Misinformed: Participants were told that the side effects are transitory. The side effects were described as feet feeling numb, itching sensation and slight headache. (mislead about the side effects) {this group was introduced as a control group. as participants wouldn’t have an appropriate explanation for their state, they would turn introspective.} o Participants given the saline solution were treated in
the same was as the Epi Ign. o Participants were then allocated to either the
euphoria condition or anger condition
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EUPHORIA
o Immediately after the drug was given, the experimenter entered with a stooge.
o The stooge was introduced and they were told that they would have to wait for 20 minutes for the suproxin to get from the injection sit into the bloodstream.
o The room was deliberately put into a state of mild disarray. the experimenter apologized for the condition and told them that they could use the stuff in the room.
o The stooge introduced himself again. He then made a series of standard icebreaker comments and launched his routine.
o This routine was standard for all participants and only variation was any activity initiated by the participant himself.
o The stooge never knew which condition the participant was in (to increase validity & reliability)
o The routine was as follows: 1. Starts doodling fish for 30 seconds 2. Says “this scrap paper isn’t even good for
doodling” then crumples it and throws into the bin and then turns this into a basketball game
3. If the participant has not joined, the stooge asks him to try.
4. The stooge then makes an airplane and flies it. 5. He throws it to the participant. 6. He tears off a part saying maybe this cannot fly
and makes a slingshot out of the rubber band and paper.
7. He then builds a tower of the sloppy pile of folders and shoots at it
8. He plays with the hula hoop. 9. He sits with his feet on the table
ANGER
o Immediately after the drug was given, the experimenter entered with a stooge.
o The stooge was introduced and they were told that they would have to wait for 20 minutes for the suproxin to get from the injection sit into the bloodstream.
o During this time, they were asked to complete a questionnaire.
o The questionnaire starts off innocently and then grows increasingly personal and insulting.
o The stooge paces his answers based on the participants and regularly makes series of standard comments ending up in rage.
o Before answering, he says “It is unfair to give shots. They should have told us earlier. You hate to refuse once you have said a yes.”
o Q 28 states “With how many me other than your father has your mother had extramarital relationships?” This leaves him extremely angry.
o Only the Epi Inf, Epi Ign and the Placebo group took part in this.
o Standardized observations took place through a one-
way mirror. o The confederate would engage in 14 standard
behaviours in the euphoria condition. For each of these
the behaviour of the participants was classified into
four categories (1) joins in with the activity (2) initiates
new activity (3) ignores the confederate (4) watches
the confederate.
o There was more than one observer to test for
reliability and 88 % matched in inter-rater reliability
o For anger, behaviour was coded under 6 categories (1)
agrees (2) disagrees (3) neutral behaviour (4) initiates
agreement or disagreement (5) watches (6) ignores
o After the session, participants had to complete a
questionnaire in which they were asked: how angry
they felt, how good or happy they felt; whether they
had felt any side effects of the drug
o Participant’s pulse rate was taken before and after
injection
o Participants were fully debriefed and explained the
deception element and why was it necessary. They
were asked if they had been suspicious of the stooge’s
activity.
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• Results:
o 11 participants’ data was eliminated because they
were suspicious of the stooge
o In all epinephrine conditions:
▪ heart rate increased (as expected)
▪ People experienced more palpitations & tremors
o 5 participants were not affected by adrenaline (they
were excluded from the study)
o Participants in Epi Informed were significantly less euphoric than participants in Epi Misinformed o Participants in Epi Informed were significantly less
euphoric than participants in Epi Ignorant o No difference between the placebo and Epi
Misinformed groups on levels of euphoria o Epi Misinformed engaged in the most activities and
initiated more behaviors than participants in other groups. o Only significant difference was in between Epi
Misinformed and Informed groups o None of the groups significantly differed on the anger
scores. Epi Informed group showed highest levels of self-reported anger. o Behaviorally, Epi Ignorant group showed most over
anger of any group on average.
• Conclusions:
There are two factors involved in our experiences of emotions: o Our physiological arousal or state o The information or cognitions that help us to
understand the behaviour we feel. o These two factors interact and make us feel different
emotions.
• Ethical Issues:
o Participants did not know what was being injected or
tested for and hence were deceived.
o Participants were injected, so they may have been
physically hurt & since they were exposed to situations
with euphoria or anger, their psychological state would
have been different than the one they entered hence
protection wasn’t provided.
• Strengths:
o High level of standardization means it is easy to replicate for reliability. o Many controls make the researcher more confident
about the causal relationship.
o Can be replicated to test for reliability
o Researchers can be more confident that IV directly
affects the DV.
o High inter-rater reliability between the observers.
o Participants were unaware of being observed hence
there were no demand characteristics. This increases
the reliability and validity of the study
• Weaknesses:
o Lacks mundane realism and ecological validity
o Participant variables could not have been controlled if
they were ‘naturally’ more euphoric or angry
o Participants were chosen via volunteering, hence they
many not be representative of a wider population.
o Use of independent groups may have introduced
participant variables that might have affected the
finding of this experiment.
o Volunteer sample may not be representative of a wider
population.
o There is a low generalizability as the sample consists of
males only
• Issues and Debates:
o Application to everyday life: Good to know that people
describe their feeling with terms from the cognition
available at that time. Can be used in hospitals to see
patient’s behaviour or to know future side effects
o Individual and Situational Explanation: This study
supports the situational side of this debate as the
situation and external triggers cause the participants’
emotions.
2. COGNITIVE APPROACH Main assumptions of the cognitive approach:
• behaviour and emotions can be explained in terms of the
role of cognitive processes such as attention, language,
thinking and memory
• similarities and differences between people can be
understood in terms of individual patterns of cognition
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2.1 Andrade (doodling) • Title: What Does Doodling Do?
• Year: 2009
• Psychology being investigated:
o People have known to daydream frequently when
presented with something boring.
• Background
o Prior to this study it was not known whether the act of
doodling does impair attention processes by taking
away resources from the primary attention task or
whether it actually aids concentration towards the
primary task, additionally maintaining arousal.
o It is common in research on attention to pose the
participants with dual tasks to monitor performance,
and then see which cognitive processes are needed to
complete these tasks.
• Aim
o To test whether doodling aided concentration in a
boring task
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory Experiment
o Experimental Design: Independent Groups
o IV: Doodling and Control Group
o DV: Mean correct recall, false alarms and memory
scores
o Sample: 40 members of the MRC Applied Psychology
Unit participant panel at the University of Plymouth
(UK). They were aged 18-55 and paid for participating.
Participants were assigned randomly to the control (20
- 18 females and 2 males) or doodling (20 - 17 females
and 3 males) group.
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling (they had
volunteered for a different study and were then
recruited)
o The researcher recorded a mock telephone message
using a cassette recorder.
o A fairly monotonous voice was used.
o Average speaking rate was 227 words per minute
o The recording was being played at a comfortable
volume for the participant to listen to.
o The script included names of 8 people who would be
attending a party alongside the names of 3 people and
1 cat who would not attend. 8 place names were also
mentioned.
o Participants were recruited just after finishing an
unrelated experiment for another researcher, and
were asked if they would mind spending another 5
minutes helping with research.
o The intention was to enhance the boredom of the task
by testing people who were already thinking about
going home.
o The participants were randomly assigned to the two
conditions.
o Participants were tested individually in a quiet and
visually dull room.
o They were asked to note down the names of all people
attending the party and nothing else. They were also
told that they do not need to remember any of it.
o Participants in the control condition were given a
piece of lined paper and a pencil.
o Participants in the doodling group were given a piece
of A4 paper with alternating rows of 10 squares and
circles, 1 cm in diameter, with a 4.5 cm margin on the
left-hand side where they could write any target
information.
o The doodling group was asked to shade the shapes
o They were told that “it does not matter how neatly or
quickly you do this - it is just something to help relieve
the boredom.”
o Participants listened to the tape for 2.5 minutes and
wrote down the information as directed.
o As soon as the recording finished, the researcher came
in and collected the sheets and talked to the
participant for a minute.
o This conversation included a debriefing and an apology
for misleading them about the memory test. The
participants were asked if they suspected a memory
test.
o Half the participants then recalled names of people
then places and the other half the places then names.
(Counterbalancing)
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PAGE 12 OF 32
• Results
o Participants in doodling group shaded a mean of 36.3
shapes (range 3-110). One participant did not doodle
and was replaced
o None of the participants in the control group doodled.
o 3 participants in doodling group and 4 in control group
suspected a memory test. None of them claimed that
they actively tried to remember the information for the
test.
o If a response indicated a plausible mishearing it was
scored as correct.
o New names not similar to the ones given, names of
people who could not attend, or responses such as
“sister” were scored as false alarms.
o MONITORING PERFORMANCE SCORE = number of
correct names - number of false alarms
o 15 Participants in doodling and 9 Participants in
control group scored the maximum score.
o Monitoring performance was significantly higher in the
doodling condition (mean = 7.7; SD = 0.6) compared
with the control condition (mean = 6.9; SD = 1.3)
o Each participant generated a names score and a places
score. If a plausible mishearing was presented it had to
be the same in the monitoring and recall phases.
o Those in doodling condition recalled a mean of 7.5
pieces of correct information compared to the control
group (5.8).
o Monitored names were recalled more than places.
o Recall was significantly better for those in doodling
condition
o Memory scores were entered into a 2 (doodling,
control), 2 (names, places) mixed measures ANOVA
which confirmed that the monitored names were
recalled better than the incidental places.
o Removing data from participants who had suspected a
test were removed from the analysis, there was still a
significant difference (p=0.01)
• Conclusions
o Participants who performed a shape-shading task
concentrated better on a mock telephone message
than those who listened with no concurrent task.
o It is not clear whether doodling led to better recall
because doodlers happened to notice more of the
target info or whether it actually aided memory recall
by encouraging some deeper processing of the
message.
• Ethical Issues
o Deception about memory test
o Debriefing
• Strengths
o Standardized procedure - easy to replicate for
reliability
o Many controls - more confident about causal
relationship
• Weaknesses
o Low generalizability - sample was from a volunteer
participant panel, therefore they may be qualitatively
different and the results may not reflect the population
o Participant Variables might have affected the findings
o Low mundane realism
o Low ecological validity
o It lacks any measure of daydreaming. A replication
that included thought probes during the telephone
message, or retrospective self-report of daydreaming,
would test whether the effect of doodling on memory
occurred via effects on daydreaming.
o Future neuroimaging studies could test the hypothesis
that doodling selectively reduces cortical activation
associated with daydreaming
• Issues and Debates
o Application: Useful for students while they are revising
or in class
o Individual and Situational explanation: This study
supports both. Individual - participants may have used
a similar strategy before or have a personality type that
requires stimulation when processing info. Situational -
the process of doodling could have cause the
improvement in recall
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2.2 Baron-Cohen et al. (eyes-test) • Title: The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” Test Revised
Version: A Study with Normal Adults, and Adults with
Asperger Syndrome or High-functioning Autism
• Year: 2001
• Psychology being investigated:
o The main idea of the eyes test was to investigate the
theory of mind.
o This is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself
or another person and this ability is the main way in
which we make sense of or predict another person’s
behavior.
o The notion is that many autistic individuals do not
understand that other people have their own plans,
thoughts, and points of view.
o It appears that they have difficulty understanding
other people's beliefs, attitudes, and emotions.
• Background
o In 1997 the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test was
developed to assess the theory of mind. This appeared
to discriminate between adults with the Asperger
syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autistic (HFA) adults
from control adults.
o The two former groups scored significantly worse.
However, the researchers were not happy with
elements of the original study and wanted to
“upgrade” their measures to make it better.
• Aims
o To test a group of adults with AS or HFA on the revised
version of the eyes test. This was in order to check if
the deficits in this group that had been found in the
original study could be replicated.
o To test if in a sample of normal adults, an inverse
(negative) correlation would be found between
performance on the (revised) Eyes Test and the Autism
Spectrum Quotient (AQ).
o To test whether females scored better on the Eyes
Test than males.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Natural Experiment (as the IV is
naturally occurring) and Questionnaire
o Experimental Design: Independent Groups
o IV: Four groups of participants (naturally occurring)
o DV: Score on Eyes Test and Autism Spectrum Quotient
o Sample: Group 1: 15 male adults with AS or HFA.
Recruited via adverts in the UK National Autistic
Society Magazine, or equivalent support groups. They
spanned an equivalent range of socioeconomic classes
and educational levels as seen in group 2.
Group 2: 122 normal adults drawn from the adult community and educational classes in Exeter, or from public library users in Cambridge. They had a broad range of occupations and educational levels. Group 3: 103 normal adult students (53 male; 50 female) studying for undergraduate degrees in Cambridge University (71 in sciences, 32 in other subjects). This group is not representative of the general population and can be considered to have a high IQ. Group 4: Randomly selected 14 adults from the general
population who were matched for their IQ with group 1.
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity and Volunteer
Sampling
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TOPIC ORIGINAL
PROBLEMS
NEW DESIGN
ELEMENTS
CHOICE • Forced choice
between two
responses meant
that only a
narrow range of
17-25 correct
responses out of
25 would be
statistically above
chance.
• This meant that
the range of
scores for which
the test could
reveal individual
differences is only
9, which is too
narrow.
• Forced choice
remained but
there were four
response options.
• There were 36
pairs of eyes
used, giving a
range of 13-36
correct
responses.
• This meant that
individual
differences could
be examined
better in terms of
statistics.
EXAMPLE • When the first
version was given
to parents of
children with AS,
they scored
below the general
population.
However, they
scored at a
similar level with
the AS or HFA
adults even
though they did
not have the
condition
themselves.
• This highlights
that the test has a
too narrow range
of scores to
distinguish
between
someone with the
“lesser variant” or
the “broader
phenotype” and
someone with the
condition itself.
MENTAL
STATE
• There were both
basic and
complex mental
states, and so
contained some
items that were
easy and which
therefore risked
producing ceiling
effects.
• In this version,
only complex
mental states
were used so as
to make the task
much more
challenging, and
in this way
increasing the
likelihood of
obtaining a
greater range of
performance in a
random sample
of adults.
EASE OF
SOLVING
• There were some
pairs of eyes
which could be
solves easily by
looking at gaze
direction of the
face.
• They were
excluded in the
revised version.
GENDER • More female eye
pairs than males.
• An equal number
was used.
• This allowed a
control condition
- judging the
gender from the
eyes.
EASE OF
GUESSING
• Target word and
foil were always
semantic
opposite making
it too easy to
guess.
• Increased the
level of difficulty
by ensuring that
the foil words had
the same
emotional
valance as the
target word.
EASE OF
COMPREHE
NSION
• There may have
been
comprehension
problems that
might have
contributed to an
individual’s score.
• A glossary with all
terms was
included which
was available for
the p’s to use at
all times.
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PAGE 15 OF 32
o Initially, the first two authors of this study chose the
“correct” word and the “foil”.
o They were then piloted on 8 judges (4 m 4 f)
o For the correct word and its foil to be used, 5 out of 8
had to agree with the choice.
o No more than 2 judges should pick the foil
o Participants tested individually in a quiet room in
Cambridge or Exeter.
o Participants in AS/HFA group were asked to judge the
gender of each eye pair additionally.
o Groups 1, 3 and 4 completed a questionnaire to
measure their AQ.
o Participants were asked to read through the glossary
and ask if they are unsure of any word. They were also
reassured that they could refer to the glossary at any
time.
• Results
o Participant in the four groups did not differ in the
number of words in the glossary that they were unsure
of, and in all participants, the number of words
checked did not exceed two.
o The AS/HFA group performed significantly worse than
the other the groups in the eyes test.
o In general, females scored better than males.
o The AS/HFA group scored higher on the AQ than other
groups.
o The distribution of scored for the eyes test formed a
normal bell curve.
• Conclusions
o The revised version of the eyes test could still
discriminate between AS/HFA adults and controls from
different sections of society as it replicated previous
finding. The new test appeared to overcome the initial
problems.
• Ethical Issues
o Protection: The tests may have caused stress in the
patients that could have altered test results.
• Strengths
o High Validity - all patients tested on the same scale
o High Reliability – standardized procedures & controls
o Could be used to improve behavior in some way -
creating therapy of AS/HFA people
o Quantitative Data - This allows for statistical analysis of
results and thus comparisons between the groups to
be made.
o Natural Experiment - Allows us to study events that
would be unethical or impossible to conduct using any
other method.
• Weaknesses
o Even with the new modifications, the stimuli are static,
whereas the real world never is.
o Whether the revised test is actually measuring the
theory of mind traits or just the ability to complete the
eyes test.
o The participants had a one in four chance of guessing
means lower validity
o Low Ecological Validity
o Quantitative Data - The reasons for particular behavior
are not explored
o
• Issues and Debates
o Application: Plan support lessons or therapy for
students or people with AS/HFA
o Reductionist - doesn’t take into account the full
picture of understanding emotions
2.3 Laney et al. (false memory) • Title: Asparagus, a Love Story. Healthier Eating Could Be
Just a False Memory Away.
• Year: 2008
• Psychology being investigated:
o People’s memories of events of their own lives can be
incorrect.
o Researchers have been able to implant false details for
actual events and entirely false events.
o From all the stored information, people can
reconstruct memories by filling in the gaps and using
false information that gets embedded as actual
information.
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• Background
o Human memory is subject to many types and levels of
distortion.
o Previous research has focused on negative and neutral
false memories. This research focuses on implanting
positive false memories.
• Aims
Overall Aims:
o To investigate whether positive false memories for
loving asparagus can be implanted into people and
then change their childhood memories about liking
asparagus.
o To investigate the consequences of implanting positive
false memories in terms of the effects it has on liking
asparagus and choosing asparagus.
• Experiment 1
• Aims:
o To investigate whether positive false memories for
loving asparagus can be implanted into people and
then change their childhood memories about liking
asparagus.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory experiment and
Questionnaires
o Experimental Design: Independent Measures Design
o IV: love group and control group; believers and non-
believers
o DV: ratings on critical items on both questionnaires -
comparing session 1 and 2
o Sample: 128 undergraduates at the University of
California from which 77% were females. The sample
had a mean age of 20.8 years and were randomly
assigned to the “love” or “control” group.
o Sampling Technique: Volunteer Sampling
o At Session 1, participants were told that they would be
completing a series of questionnaires for a study of the
relationship between food preferences and
personality. They were not told anything about false
memories in order to limit the influence of demand
characteristics.
o They completed the Food History Inventory (FHI)
which consisted of 24 items including the critical item
“Loved asparagus the first time you tried it” in the 16th
position. Participants rated each item on a scale of 1 =
definitely did not happen and 8 = definitely did happen
before the age of 10.
o Participants then completed the Restaurant
Questionnaire (RQ) that assessed their desire to eat 32
separate dishes including the critical item “sautéed
asparagus spears”. This questionnaire was formatted
to look like a menu with 5 categories. Participants were
asked to imagine they were out on a special dinner and
order each item regardless the price. They circled their
ratings from 1 = definitely yes to 8 = definitely no.
o Participants completed 3 additional “filler”
questionnaires - a personality measure, Marlowe-
Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and a questionnaire
on eating habits - to disguise the true aim of the study.
o After one week at Session 2, participants returned and
were given false feedback about their responses. They
were told falsely that their responses were entered
into a computer which generated a food profile of their
early childhood experiences with food.
o Their profiles were presented as if they had been
individually tailored to each participant.
o A section of the profile was the same for all. “As a
young child you disliked spinach, enjoyed fried foods
and liked it when fellow classmates bought food to
class.” For the love group, the critical item “you loved
to eat cooked asparagus” was added in the 3rd
position.
o To ensure that the participants processed the
feedback, they all responded to brief questions about
the “sweets at school” item, and the Love group also
answered these about the critical item “asparagus”.
o They were asked to “Imagine the setting. Where were
you? Who was with you?” They then rated on a scale of
1 = not at all to 9 = very much, how much the
experience had affected their adult personality.
o Participants completed the FHI and RQ again to assess
changes from pre- to post-manipulation.
o They additionally completed 2 new questionnaires: the
Food Preferences Questionnaire (FPQ) and the Food
Costs Questionnaire (FCQ).
o FPQ: they had to rate 62 food items on a (Likert) scale
of 1 = definitely don’t like to eat it to 8 = definitely like
to eat.
o FCQ: they had to indicate whether they would buy 21
different food items and how much they would be
willing to pay for it. They had to choose one of seven
statements.
o Participants additionally had to complete the Memory
or Belief Questionnaire (M/B).
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PAGE 17 OF 32
o Memory or Belief Questionnaire (M/B): participants
responded to 3 items from the FHI including asparagus
by choosing one of three options. (a) specific memory
of the event (b) belief that the event had occurred (c)
positive that the event had not occurred.
o Participants were fully debriefed and excused.
• Results
o FHI: The results of 31 participants` were excluded as
they liked asparagus before manipulation. Mean
ratings of love group increased by 2.6 points and in the
control group by 0.2 points.
o M/B: In love group, 22% reported a memory, 35%
reported a belief and 43% were certain that the event
had not occurred. In control group, 12% reported a
memory, 28% reported a belief and 61% were certain
that the event had not occurred.
o Believers versus non-believers: Believers were the
participants who were susceptible to manipulation,
while non-believers were those who weren’t. 48% of
participants were labelled as believers. FHI rating
increased on an average of 4.5 points for believers and
0.9 points for non-believers. Memory increased on an
average by 5.5 and belief by 3.6 points for the FHI.
o On the RQ believers reported more desire to eat
asparagus at session 2 than the control group.
Believers rated asparagus more favourably than
controls, and their ratings increased from pre- to post-
manipulation, while those of controls did not.
o On the FPQ believers reported liking asparagus
significantly more than the control group and were
willing to pay more for asparagus.
o Believers were additionally willing to pay more for
asparagus than the control group.
• Conclusions
o Subjects can be lead to develop positively-framed false
beliefs about experiences with foods, and these beliefs
can lead to an increased liking of those foods.
o The love group believers had a greater intention to eat
asparagus in the future, they had a greater preference
and were willing to pay more for asparagus.
• Experiment 2
• Aims:
o To replicate and extend the findings of Experiment 1.
o To examine possible underlying mechanisms of false
memories by looking at whether the sight of asparagus
is more appealing to people after the false
manipulation about asparagus.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory experiment and
Questionnaires
o Experimental Design: Independent Measures Design
o IV: love group and control group; believers and non-
believers
o DV: ratings on critical items on both questionnaires -
comparing session 1 and 2
o Sample: 103 undergraduates at the University of
Washington, who received course credits for their
time. 62% of them were females and the participants
had a mean age of 19.9. They were randomly assigned
to the “love” or “control” group.
o At Session 1, when the participants arrived, they were
told that their data would be entered into a computer
system that would generate a profile based on their
answers. No cover story was given.
o Participants completed the FHI, FPQ and RQ. To
disguise the true aim of the study, they also completed
two filler questionnaires - a personality measure and
Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale.
o One week later at Session 2, participants returned and
received false feedback about their responses from
Session 1.
o This was identical to that given in Experiment 1. The
critical item was “You loved asparagus the first time
you ate it”, again embedded in the third position.
o Love group participants completed an elaboration
exercise. They had to answer a set of questions about
their memory for this event.
o If they appeared to struggle they were asked to
imagine what might have happened. They were also
asked their age, location, what they were doing at that
time and how it made them feel.
o All participants produced qualitative data to the
question “What is the most important childhood, food-
related event in your life that your profile did not
report?”
o Participants then looked at 20 slides of common food
including the critical item.
o Each slide was shown for 30 seconds and was rated on
4 criteria:
1. how appetising they found the picture
2. how disgusting they fount the picture
3. whether the photograph was taken by a novice,
amateur or professional
4. the artistic quality of the picture
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PAGE 18 OF 32
o Points 1, 2 and 4 were rated on a scale of 1 = not at all
to 8 = very much
o Participants then completed FPQ, RQ and FHI again
and the M/B questionnaire.
o They were then fully debriefed and excused.
• Results
o FHI: both groups appeared to rate the critical item
similarly before manipulation but different afterwards.
30 participants were excluded from analysis. For the
love group, mean confidence increased by 2.5 points
(from 1.70 to 2.40), but only 1.07 points (from 1.45 to
2.52) for the control group.
o M/B: In the love group, 28% of participants reported a
memory, 28% a belief and 45% were certain that the
event had not occurred. In the control group, 6% of
participants reported a memory, 38% a belief and 56%
were certain that the event had not occurred. The
ratings for the critical asparagus event increased by 5.4
points in the love group compared to 3.5 for those with
a belief.
o Believers versus non-believers: In the love group, 21
participants were labelled as believers. Ratings
increased dramatically from a mean of 1.95 in Session
1 to 6.48 in Session 2. For non-believers the ratings
increased from 1.42 to 1.68, only 0.07 points. Males
and females were equally likely to form a false
memory.
o Believers reported a higher desire to eat asparagus.
o The ratings for neither believers nor controls changed
significantly from pre- to post-manipulation on the RQ.
o Believers rated asparagus as more appetizing than
controls (5.10 versus 4.00).
o Believers rated 1.81 on the disgusting scale for
asparagus, while the controls rated it as 3.24.
o The rating for believers and controls did not differ on
dimensions of expertise.
• Conclusions
o Participants can be given positive false food beliefs
that have consequences.
o Those who believed the false feedback were more
likely to rate asparagus as being more appetising.
• Ethical Issues
o Participants were deceived about the aim of this
study.
o Informed consent could not be obtained as the
participants did not know the true aim and hence could
not give full consent.
• Strengths
o The study has high levels of standardization and hence
a higher reliability.
o The study has many controls and this increases its
validity.
o The use of quantitative data allows for easier
statistical analyses.
• Weaknesses
o The study lacks ecological validity and mundane
realism.
o The study has a low generalizability as the sample
consisted of students only.
o Most of the data was collected through self-report
measure and this introduces the chances of demand
characteristics hence reducing the validity of the study.
o Ratings are subjective, again reducing the validity.
• Issues and Debates
o Application to everyday life: it could be use to develop
healthy eating habits in fussy eaters or cancer patients.
3. LEARNING APPROACH • Main assumptions of the learning approach:
o conditioning helps to explain changes in behaviour
o social learning helps to explain changes in behaviour.
3.1 Bandura et al. (aggression) • Title: Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of
Aggressive Models.
• Year: 1961
• Psychology being investigated:
o Social Learning Theory: social behaviour is learned
primarily by observing and imitating others. It is
“learning by proxy”. The four components to it are:
o Attention: Observers must pay attention to behaviour of the model. The model must have some feature that attracts the observer.
o Retention: Observers must store the behaviour in their long-term memory so that the information can be used again (when the observer wants to imitate the behaviour).
o Reproduction: Observers must feel capable of imitating the retained, observed behaviour.
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o Motivation: If observers experience vicarious
reinforcement they are more likely to imitate the
behaviour. This is when the model has been rewarded
for performing the observed behaviour. Vicarious
punishment can also happen: the role model is
punished for the observed behaviour, so is less likely to
imitate it.
• Background
o Learning behaviour by imitating others is called
observational learning.
o Several studies had demonstrated that children are
influenced by witnessing adult behaviour in the same
situation and in the presence of the adult who
modelled the behaviour.
o This study is concerned with learning gender-specific
behaviours.
• Aims
o Overall aim: To investigate observational learning of
aggression.
o Specific aims:
o To see whether children would reproduce aggressive
behaviour when the model was no longer present.
o To look for gender differences in the learning of
aggression.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory experiment and
Observations
o Experimental Design: Independent groups, Matched
pairs design
o IV: (1) behaviour of the model – aggressive or non-
aggressive (2) sex of the model (3) sex of the child
o DV: amount of behaviour observed in 8 categories
o Sample: 72 participants; 36 boys and 36 girls from the
Stanford University Nursery School. Their ages ranged
from 37 months to 69 moths with a mean age of 52
months. 2 adults, a male and a female served as the
role models in the experiment. One female
experimenter conducted the study for all 72
participants.
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling
o Participants were divided into 8 experimental groups
or 6 children each and one control group consisting 24
participants who watched no model.
EXPERIMENTAL
GROUPS
SEX OF
CHILD
SEX OF
MODEL
TYPE OF
BEHAVIOUR
1 Male Male AGGRESSIVE
2 Female Female AGGRESSIVE
3 Male Female AGGRESSIVE
4 Female Male AGGRESSIVE
5 Male Male NON-
AGGRESSIVE
6 Female Female NON-
AGGRESSIVE
7 Male Female NON-
AGGRESSIVE
8 Female Male NON-
AGGRESSIVE
o Children in each condition were matched for their
levels of physical aggression, verbal aggression,
aggression towards inanimate objects and aggressive
inhibition.
o 51 participants were rated independently on a four
five-point rating scale by the experimenter and a
nursery teacher. A very good agreement of 0.89 was
achieved.
Modelling the Behaviour
o Each child was brought individually to a play room by
the experimenter. She then invited the model who was
outside the room.
o The experimenter took the child to one corner of the
room which was supposed to be their play area. She
demonstrated how the child could design picture with
potato prints and the stickers provided.
o The experimenter then escorted the model to the
opposite corner of the room which contained a small
table and chair, a tinker toy set, a mallet and a 5-foot
inflated Bobo doll. She explained that these were the
materials provided for the model to play with and then
left.
o In the non-aggressive condition, the model assembled
the tinker toys in a quiet subdued manner totally
ignoring the Bobo doll.
o In the aggressive condition, the model began
assembling the tinker toys but after a minute he turned
to the Bobo and played with it.
o The model punched the Bobo, sat on it and punched it
repeatedly, hit it with a mallet on the head and
aggressive kicked it about in the room.
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o The model also included verbal aggression such as,
“sock him in the nose,” “Pow,” “throw him in the air”
and 2 non-aggressive comments “he keeps coming
back for more” and “he sure is a though fella”.
o This lasted for about 10 minutes
Aggression Arousal
o This was included for two reasons: (1) observation of
aggressive behaviour exhibited by others tends to
reduce the probability of aggression on the part of the
observer (2) in order to instigate or annoy the children.
o The participants were taken to a different room with
some very attractive toys.
o The attractive toys included a fire-engine, a
locomotive, a jet fighter plane, a cable car, a colourful
spinning top, and a doll set complete with wardrobe,
doll carriage, and baby crib.
o They were allowed to play with them for 2 minutes
before the experimenter stopped them and said that
they were reserved for other children.
Testing for Delayed Imitation
o Children were taking into the experimental room
which contained a variety of toys including aggressive
and non-aggressive toys.
o The aggressive toys were a 3-foot tall inflatable Bobo
doll, a mallet and peg board, two dart guns and a
tether ball with a face painted on it which hung from
the ceiling.
o The non-aggressive toys included a tea set, crayons
and colouring paper, a ball, two dolls, three bears, cars,
trucks, and plastic farm animals.
o The toys were placed in a fixed manner.
o Children were observed playing for the next 20
minutes.
o 2 more observers (the models) watched the child play
and had an inter-rater reliability of 0.90
o 3 types of aggression were recorded: (1) imitative
aggression (physical and verbal) (2) non-imitative
aggression (3) partially imitative aggression.
Results
o There was a significant difference in levels of imitative
aggression between the group that witnessed
aggressive behaviour and the other two groups.
o There was a significant difference in levels of imitative
physical and verbal aggression.
o Significantly more non-aggressive play was recorded in
the non-aggressive model condition.
o Children who had witnessed an aggressive model were
significantly more aggressive themselves.
o Overall, very little difference was present between
aggression in the control group and that in the non-
aggressive modelling condition.
o Boys were significantly more likely to imitate male
aggressive models.
o Boys were significantly more physically aggressive
then girls. Girls were slightly more verbally aggressive.
• Conclusions
o Witnessing aggression in a model can be enough to
produce aggression by an observer.
o Children selectively imitate gender-specific
behaviours.
• Ethical Issues
o Children were exposed to aggressive behaviour and
were not protected.
o Informed consent was taken from the nursery teacher.
• Strengths
o The study has high levels of standardization and hence
a higher reliability.
o The study has many controls and this increases its
validity.
o There was a high inter-observer/ inter-rater reliability.
o Low risk of demand characteristics.
o Using a matched pairs design reduced the effects of
participant variable.
o Use of quantitative data allows for easier statistical
analyses.
• Weaknesses
o The study lacks ecological validity and mundane
realism.
• Issues and Debates
o Application to everyday life: can be useful to
advertising agencies.
o Individual and Situational explanation: this study
supports the situational side of the debate as the
situation that the children found themselves in caused
the imitated aggressive behaviour.
o Nature versus Nurture: this supports the nurture side
of the debate as the environment they found
themselves in caused the imitated aggressive
behaviour.
o The use of children: less susceptible to demand
characteristics however could become more aggressive
after this study.
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3.2 Saavedra and Silverman (button phobia) • Title: Case Study: Disgust and a Specific Phobia of
Buttons.
• Year: 2002
• Psychology being investigated:
o Evaluative learning is a form of classical conditioning in
which a person comes to perceive or “evaluate” a
previously neutral object negatively.
o It does not depend on the individual expecting or
being aware of the association between the neutral
object and the negative outcome.
o An individual may negatively evaluate a specific object
or event without anticipating the threat of an objective
contaminant.
o This elicits a feeling of disgust rather than fear.
• Background
o Phobia: a persistent and unreasonable fear of an
object. The fear is disproportionate to the danger
posed and leads to avoidance of the object.
o Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by an organism’s
defensive response to an imminent threat
o Disgust: a feeling of revulsion or disapproval aroused
by something unpleasant or offensive.
o The role of disgust within phobias has received very
little attention.
o Disgust could interact with the fear of a phobic
stimulus produces, to increase avoidance of that
stimulus.
o Disgust has been hypothesized as a concurrent
emotion that in interaction with fear may result in
increased avoidance behaviour.
• Aims
o To investigate the cause of button phobia in a child.
o To attempt to treat a child’s phobia via targeting both
disgust and fear responses.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Case Study, Observations and
Questionnaires
o Quantitative data: Distress ratings and Severity ratings
o Qualitative data: Questions about why the boy found
buttons disgusting
o Sample: A 9-year-old Hispanic American boy who was
part of the Child Anxiety and Phobia Program at Florida
International University. He came with an avoidance of
buttons.
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling
o The boy and the mother gave informed consent to
participate in the assessment and intervention
procedures. Written content was also provided to
publish this study.
o The boy met the DSM-IV criteria for a specific phobia
of buttons.
o The phobia began when the boy was 5 years old in
kindergarten, during an art project involving buttons.
o The boy ran out of buttons so was asked to come to
the front of the class and take them. When he reached
the bowl, his hand slipped and the buttons in the bowl
fell on him. He described this experience as distressful.
o Duration of the phobia was 4 years.
o He did not express significant stressors or events that
could be related to the phobia’s onset during this
period.
Behavioural Exposures
o The child was treated with an exposure-based
treatment programme that tackled cognitions and
behaviour.
o The treatment involved the use of contingency
management. The mother provided positive
reinforcement if the boy successfully completed the
gradual exposure to buttons.
o Treatment sessions lasted about 30 minutes with the
boy alone and 20 minutes with the boy and his mother.
o Before the first session, the boy devised a disgust and
fear hierarchy using distress ratings on a 9-point scale
(from 0-8) via a feelings thermometer as shown in
Table 1.
o The most difficult were small, clear, plastic buttons.
o He had 4 sessions of behavioural exposure to buttons
using this hierarchy.
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Disgust Imagery and Cognitions
o After the behavioural exposure, it was planned to have
7 sessions looking into the boy’s disgust imagery and
cognitions with a view of helping him to change these
over time.
o Further probing revealed that they boy found buttons
disgusting upon contact with his body.
o He also expressed that buttons emitted unpleasant
odours.
o These seven sessions involved exploring with the boy
the vicarious things about buttons that he found
disgusting and using specific cognitive strategies.
o He was prompted to imagine buttons falling on him
and to express how they looked, felt, smelled and to
elaborate on how these imagery exposures made him
feel.
o Although the boy indicated that buttons were
“disgusting and gross”, even with intense probing it
was difficult for him to describe exactly what about
buttons rendered them disgusting and gross.
• Results
o By session 4, the boy had successfully completed all in
vivo exposure tasks up to those with the highest
distress ratings.
o Even though he could handle more and more buttons,
his distress rating increased dramatically from session
2 to 3 and 3 to 4.
o In session 4, the boy’s subjective ratings that had been
6 or 7 prior to the treatment were now higher.
o This phenomenon was consistent with evaluative
learning.
o Disgust-related imagery exposures and cognitions
appeared to be successful in reducing the boy’s
subjective ratings of distress.
o In the imagery sessions, he had to imagine hundreds
of buttons falling on him, before the cognitive
restructuring, he rated the experience as 8. This
decreased to 5 midway through the session and ended
up as 3.
o In a session where he has to imagine hugging his
mother while she was wearing a shirt with many
buttons, the distress ratings went from 7 to 4 to 3.
o He was followed up 6 and 12 months after treatment
and he no longer met the specific phobia of buttons
• Conclusions
o Disgust plays a key role in the development and
maintenance of a phobia but a mixture of behavioural
exposure and cognitive restructuring helped to
eliminate the feelings of disgust.
• Ethical Issues
o The participant was severely distressed and protection
provided.
o Informed consent was taken from the mother and the
boy.
• Strengths
o Qualitative and quantitative data were both acquired
in this study.
o This is a case study and is focused on one person only
hence detailed data was collected.
o The study was conducted in a therapeutic setting
hence had ecological validity.
• Weaknesses
o The study lacks mundane realism.
o This was a case study and used only one participant,
hence has a low generalizability.
o The ratings are subjective and this lowers reliability.
• Issues and Debates
o Application to everyday life: For treating other phobias
o Nature versus Nurture: The process by which the
phobia was acquired relates to nurture.
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3.3 Pepperberg (parrot learning) • Title: Acquisition of the same/different concept by an
African Grey parrot (Psittacus Erithacus): Learning with
respect to categories of colour, shape and material.
• Year: 1987
• Psychology being investigated:
o Comprehension of same and different
• Background
o To see if humans can use abstract symbolic
relationships when communicating
o Many psychologists believe that only humans posses
“true language skills” alongside the ability to show a
range of cognitive skills.
o Prior to this study, Pepperberg had reported on an
African Grey parrot, Alex.
o He could categorize subjects, count up to six and use
functional phrases “Come here” “I want X” “Wanna go
Y” and “no”. However, Pepperberg stated that these
do not show whether a non-human can comprehend
and use abstract symbolic relationships when
communicating.
o One cognitive skill that had been reported as being a
concept not seen in non-humans is the comprehension
of “same” or “different”.
o Premack noted that for a non-human to demonstrate
comprehension of “same” two aspects must apply
o They must recognize that two independent objects
called A1 & A2 are both blue and this single attribute
makes them “same”
o They must also recognize that this “sameness” can be
immediately extrapolated and symbolically
represented not only for two other blue items, but for
two novel independent items that have nothing in
common with the original set of A’s
o This study was designed to test these two ways of
assessing the cognitive skill of “same” or “different”.
• Aims
o To see if an avian subject could use vocal labels to
demonstrate symbolic comprehension of the concepts
of same and different.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory Experiment, Case Study
o Experimental Design: N/A
o IV: Whether the object is familiar or novel
o DV: Whether the parrot responds correctly to the
questions
o Sample: African Grey parrot named Alex who was the
focus of Pepperberg’s work since June 1977. He had free access to all parts of the lab for 8 hours/day when the trainers were present. During his “sleeping hours” he was placed in a cage with fresh water and a standard seed mix for parrots was available at all times. The trials occurred at various locations around the laboratory depending on where Alex was at that time. Other food such as fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and toys were provided when Alex asked for them.
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity
o Quantitative data: % Success rate on trials was
measured for familiar and novel objects
o Alex was presented with two objects which could be
differentiated based on three categories: colour, shape
and material. He would then be asked either “What’s
same?” or “What’s different?”
o A correct response would be only recorded if Alex
vocalised the appropriate category.
o Four processes Alex had to go through to get a correct
response
o Attend to multiple features of two different objects
o From the vocal question, determine whether the
response is based on sameness or difference
o Work out what is same or different
o Vocally produce a category response
o To complete these, Alex had to perform the cognitive
skill of feature analysis on the objects
o He had already been learning “language” and concepts
for around 9 years prior to this study hence he could
already produce vocal labels in English.
o During the course of the study Alex acquired labels for
orange, purple and six-cornered objects.
o Training sessions occurred 2-4 times per week and
lasted between 5 minutes to 1 hours.
Training (general):
o MODEL/RIVAL technique - primary technique used by
Pepperberg; it is based on the principles of social
learning theory
o This demonstrates to the parrot types of interactive
responses in the study.
o One person acts as a trainer to the second human. The
trainer asks questions about the object and gives praise
and rewards for the correct answer but shows
disapproval for the incorrect answer.
o The second human acts as a model for Alex but also as
a rival for the trainer’s attention.
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o The roles of model/rival (M/R) and trainer were
frequently reversed and Alex was often given the
opportunity to participate in these sessions.
o During any training where the purpose was to acquire
a correct label, each correct response was rewarded
with the object itself.
o To keep Alex’s motivation high, he could ask for any
reward if he answered correctly.
Training (same/different):
o A trainer would hold up two objects in front of the
model/rival and ask “What’s same?” or “What’s
different?”
o Both types of questions and training objects were
mixed within each session.
o Objects were always red, green or blue; triangular or
square; rawhide or wood.
o M/R would respond with the correct category label
and was given a reward.
o If the M/R gave an incorrect response, the trainer
scolded the person.
o When an error was presented, the objects were
removed from sight, and then presented again with the
same question asked.
o The role of M/R was then reversed.
o Initial training contrasted just the categories of colour
and shape Alex had already learnt. He was then trained
on a third category “mah-mah” (matter).
o To prevent boredom of repetitive tasks he was also
being trained on number concepts, new labels for
other objects, recognition of photographs and object
permanence.
o Formal testing was only started after he acquired the
label “mah-mah”.
General Training:
o A secondary trainer who had never trained him earlier
carried out trials. This was done to reduce any effect of
cuing from the original trainers.
o The questioning was incorporated into other test
sessions that were being conducted on Alex.
o On a previous day, the principal trainer would list all
possible objects that could be used for testing. A
student who was not involved in any training would
then choose the question and randomly order them.
o In a week, “same” or “different” questions were asked
1-4 times.
o Testing took place over 26 months (2 years 2 months)
o Principal trainer was present wherever the trail took
place but she sat with her back facing Alex and did not
look at him during the presentation of the objects.
o She never knew what was being presented and would
repeat out what she though Alex had said.
o If it was correct Alex was given that object as a reward
and praised.
o If not, the examiner removed the object and
emphatically said, “NO!” When this happened, a
correction procedure was used in which the object was
presented until the correct response was given.
o The same materials were never presented again so
there was a sings fist-trial response.
o An overall test score was produced. First-trial results
were also calculated.
o Tests on objects who are familiar:
o Object pairs were presented to Alex.
o They were similar pairings to the ones used in the
training phase but never the same.
o Individual objects were obviously used in more than
one trial but the pairing were always novel and a
specific pair would only ever be presented again if Alex
gave an incorrect label (or erred).
o Transfer tests using novel objects:
o Alex was presented with pairs of objects that
combined several attributes that had never been used
in the training phase or in previous questioning.
o Alex was presented with totally novel objects that
might not have even had a label.
o He was exposed to objects that did not have a label for
and objects that he has no experience of.
o Any completely new object was within the
environment of Alex for several days prior to being
used so that Alex got used to seeing it and to reduce
fear responses.
The use of probes:
o One concern was that in formulating his answers, Alex
might not be attending to the questions, but merely
responding to the physical characteristics of the
objects.
o Thus, at random intervals probes were administered in
which he was asked questions for which two category
labels could be the correct response.
o If he were ignoring the content of the question and
answering on the basis of attributes, he would have
responded with an incorrect answer.
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• Results
o The training for Alex to acquire “colour” and “shape”
as labels took 4 moths and for “mah-mah” it took 9
months.
o The length of each session was dictated by Alex’s
willingness to attend.
Familiar objects:
o 99 out 129 (76.7%) correct responses overall
o 69 out of 99 (69.7%) on first-trail only performance
o Based on chance, he should have scored 33.3%
o His performance on pairs made of objects that were
no longer novel but contained a colour, shape or
material he could not yet label was 13 out of 17 and 10
out of 13 for first-trials.
Transfer tests with novel objects:
o 96 out of 113 (85%) correct overall
o 79 out of 96 (82.3%) on first trials
o When there was a novel object in a pair his score was
86% and when both objects were novel it was 83%
Probes:
o 55 out of 91 (90.2%) correct overall
o 49 out of 55 (89.1%) on fist trails
o This demonstrates he was processing the questions
rather than simply the attributes of the objects
• Conclusions
o The data indicates that at least one avian subject
shows symbolic comprehension of the concept
same/different.
o Alex’s scores on all tests were significantly above
chance, suggesting that he understood what the
questions were asking.
o It would therefore appear that symbolic
representation of same/different is not exclusive to
primates.
• Ethical Issues
o Strong animal ethics - Number (only one), rewards
given, no deprivation and appropriate caging.
• Strengths
o Case study – focused on one subject
o High standardisation – higher reliability
o High validity
• Weaknesses
o Lacks mundane realism
o Low generalizability – due to case study
• Issues and Debates
o Application: for training animals
o Nature versus nurture: supports nurture. He was
learning through both operant conditioning and social
learning.
4. SOCIAL APPROACH Main assumptions of the social approach:
• behaviour, cognitions and emotions can be influenced by
other individuals
• behaviour, cognitions and emotions can be influenced by
groups or social contexts
4.1 Milgram (obedience) • Title: Behavioural Study of Obedience
• Year: 1963
• Psychology being investigated:
o In this study, Milgram was testing the situational
hypothesis.
o Agency theory:
o Agentic state: people see themselves as agent of another and will blindly accept orders because they are not personally responsible for their actions. Arises from fact that obedience is rewarded and disobedience punished. We give up our free will.
o Autonomous state: Behavior is voluntary; people are aware of their decisions and consequences of those decisions. We choose to be obedient.
o Moral strain: we experience this in the agentic stage
when we go along with the demands of the authority
even though we know it is wrong and do not agree
with it.
• Background
o Destructive obedience: when people obey orders
which cause harm or distress to another person
o Early psychological research into the Holocaust
focused on the idea that something distinctive about
German culture or personality leads to the high levels
of conformity for the genocide to take place. This is
known as the dispositional hypothesis.
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o Milgram set out to question this dispositional
attribution of the Germans. He believed that the
situation had led to the inhumane behavior of the
Nazis and therefore that anybody in the same situation
as those committing such atrocities would have done
the same in the same circumstances. Milgram argued
that people would commit atrocities if required to do
so by an authority figure. This argument is an example
of a situational attribution as it is arguing that the
behavior resulted from the situation a person was in.
• Aims
o Overall aim: To investigate how obedient people
would be to orders from a person in authority that
would result in pain and harm to another person.
o Specific aim: To see how large an electric shock
participants would give to a helpless man when
ordered to.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Lab Experiment. However, as there
is no control condition (i.e. all of the participants took
place in all of the same experimental procedure) it is
not strictly speaking an experiment. (more accurately it
is a controlled observation)
o Experimental Design: N/A
o IV: ‘Prods’ given
o DV: Degree of obedience (how high voltage did
participants go to)
o Sample: 40 males between the ages of 20 - 50 were
drawn from the New Haven district of Connecticut,
USA. They were recruited by means of a newspaper
advertisement, which promised $4.50 for their time if
they turned up to participated in the study and that the
money was theirs no matter what happened after they
arrived. Participants believed that they were to
participate in a study of memory and learning at Yale
University. Participants were from a range of
backgrounds: 37.5% were manual laborers, 40% were
white-collar workers and 22.5% were professionals.
o Sampling Technique: Volunteering
o Milgram created a phoney ‘shock generator’ which in
the 1960s looked very impressive and realistic. The
phoney shock generator had 30 switches marked
clearly in 15-volt increments from 15 to 450 volts. It
also had buzzers, flashing lights and moving dials.
o When the participants arrived at the psychology
laboratory, they were given an introduction on the
relationship between punishment and learning.
o They were introduced to the experimenter who was
played by a 31-year-old Biology teacher, who
introduced himself as Jack Williams. He wore a grey
technicians coat and appeared stern and emotionless
throughout the experiment.
o They were introduced to Mr. Wallace and made to
believe that he was another participant. Mr. Wallace
was a confederate, a 47 year-old Irish-American
accountant.
o They drew slips of paper for knowing who play the role
of the learner of victim. This was rigged so that Mr.
Wallace was always the victim.
o The learner sat in an ‘electric chair’ with straps to
“prevent excessive movement” during electric shocks
that would be given from a shock generator.
o An electrode was attached to the learner’s wrist and
electrode paste was applied to “avoid blisters and
burns”.
o The learner was told that, “Although the shocks can be
extremely painful, they cause no tissue damage”.
o All these tricks basically made the experiment seem
much more real to the participant. The final trick was
to give the participant a sample shock of 45 volts (from
an external battery, since the shock-generator wasn’t
actually supposed to work).
o The participant was then seated in an adjacent room
and asked to read word pairs to the learner. The
learner had to memorize the pairs.
o The teacher then tested the learner by giving him one
of the words in a pair with four other words. The
learner had to choose the word that was previously
paired with the first word. If his answer was correct,
the next word on the list was read. If it was incorrect,
the teacher had to state the correct answer and
administer an electric shock (starting from 15 volts).
o For every wrong answer, the shock level would
increase by 15 volts (15, 30, 45… you do the math). The
learner actually gave a predetermined set of answers
with about three wrong answers for every right
answer.
o At 300 volts, the learner would start hitting the wall
and shouting. He stopped answering questions. Here,
the participant usually looked at the experimenter for
guidance. They were told to interpret no answer as a
wrong answer, meaning that the learner would have to
be shocked again.
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o The learner’s pounding continued after 315 volts, after
which the learner went completely silent.
o If the participant again asked for advice, he would be
met with a sequence of firm standardised ‘prods’:
o “Please continue” or “Please go on” (1) o “The experiment requires you to continue” (2) o “It is absolutely essential that you continue” (3) o “You have no choice, you must go on” (4) o If the participant asked about permanent physical
injuries, a different prod was used: “Although the
shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue
damage, so please go on.” If the participant said that
the learner did not want to continue, another prod was
used: “Whether the learner likes it or not, you must go
on until he has learned all the word pairs correctly, so
please go on.”
o The experiment ended if the participant refused to
continue after the four official prods, or if 450 volts
were administered.
o A participant who stopped before reaching 450 volts
was classed as a “defiant participant” while those who
went up to 450 volts were classed as an “obedient
participant”. The experiment was filmed and observers
watched through a one-way mirror.
o Participants were then interviewed during which they
rated how painful they thought the last few shocks
were on a scale from 0 to 14. Projective measures and
attitude scales were employed too.
o After the experiment, the participants were debriefed
and an open-ended questionnaire was given. Some
psychometric tests were taken to make sure there was
no emotional harm.
o The teacher and learner were reunited in order to
prove that the learner was an actor who was not really
in danger.
o The participants were told that their reaction was
normal, another measure taken to ensure they left the
experiment without mental discomfort.
o Note: Before the study was conducted, Milgram asked
14 Yale University psychology students to read a
description of the study and estimate what % of
participants would give 450-volt shock. The students
estimated 0-3%.
• Results
o 26 participants were obedient and administered a
complete round of electric shocks, while only 14 were
defiant. So 65% obeyed and 35% terminated the
experiment before reaching 450 volts.
o When the experimenter was the one to end the
experiment (at 450 volts), many of the participants
sighed in relief or shook their heads in what seemed
like regret.
o Most of the men were sweating, shaking, stuttering or
fidgeting during the study.
o 14 participants giggled nervously. The participants
who had nervous laughter fits were keen to point out
that they weren’t sadistic and that their laughter
wasn’t a sign that they enjoyed shocking the learner.
o 3 had seizures and the procedure was stopped for one
of them.
o Average rating of how painful the shocks were was
13.42 out of a maximum of 14.
• Conclusions
o People are much more obedient to destructive orders
than we think.
o They find this process highly stressful despite obeying
them.
o Results supported the situational hypothesis rather
than the dispositional hypothesis.
• Ethical Issues
o Many ethical issues including:
o Deception in terms of what the study was about and
whether the shocks were real.
o Protection of the participant’s state of mind and they
would not exit the study in the same mental state they
entered in.
o Right to withdraw might not have been there as prods
were used.
• Strengths
o High levels of control increases the validity
o High levels of standardizations increases the reliability
• Weaknesses
o Bad ethics
o Unrepresentative sample because it was only male
o Ethnocentric bias because he used only American men
o Low ecological validity because of the artificial setting.
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• Issues and Debates
o Application: explain why humans engage in destructive
obedience.
o Individual and situational explanations: This study
supports situational explanations.
4.2 Pilivan et al. (subway Samaritans) • Title: Good Samaritanism: An Underground
Phenomenon?
• Year: 1969
• Psychology being investigated:
o Bystander Apathy: the phenomenon of when
observers of an emergency situation do not intervene.
o Diffusion of responsibility (Latané and Darley): is a
sociopsychological phenomenon whereby people are
less likely to offer help if other people are present
because they feel that the whole group is equally
responsible, thus making themselves less personally
responsible.
• Background
o Murder of Kitty Genovese
o Bystander behaviour
• Aims
o To study bystander behaviour outside the laboratory,
in a realistic setting where participants would have a
clear view of the victim.
o To see whether helping behaviour was affected by
four variables: the victim’s responsibility of being in a
situation where they need help, the race of the victim,
the effect of modelling helping behaviour and the size
of the group.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Field Experiment and Observations
o Experimental Design: Independent groups
o IV: There were four IVs.
(1) Victim’s responsibility - operationalised as carrying a cane = ill (low responsibility) or smelling of alcohol carrying a bottle wrapped in a paper bag = drunk (high responsibility)
(2) Victim’s race (3) Presence of a model - operationalised as whether a
male confederate either close to or distant from the victim helped after 70 or 150 seconds
(4) Number of bystanders o DV: the amount of people who helped; the speed it
took for them to help the victim
o Sample: An estimated total of around 4450 people
were unsolicited participants of this study with a racial
mix of 55% white and 45% black.
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity Sampling
o The experiment was conducted during the period from
April 15 to June 26, 1968.
o The trains A and D of the 8th Avenue IND were selected
because they make no stops between the 59th and
125th street. Thus, the trails lasted during the 7.5-
minute journey between these two stops.
o There was a mean of 43 people in each car and 8.5 in
the critical area.
o On each trial, a team of four students, (two males and
two females), boarded the train using different doors.
Four different teams, whose members always worked
together, collected data for 103 trials.
o Each team varied the location of the experimental
compartment from trial to trial.
o The female confederates sat outside the critical area
and recorded data as unobtrusively as possible during
the journey, while the male model and victim remained
standing. The victim always stood next to a pole in the
centre of the critical area.
o As the train passed the first station (approximately 70
seconds after departing), the victim staggered forward
and collapsed.
o Until receiving help, he remained motionless on the
floor, looking at the ceiling.
o If he received no help by the time the train slowed to a
stop, the model helped him to his feet.
o At the stop, the team got off and waited separately
until other passengers had left the station before
proceeding to another platform to board a train going
in the opposite direction for the next trial.
o 6-8 trials were run on any given day and all trials on a
given day were in the same ‘victim condition’.
o The four victims (one from each team) were males,
aged between 26 and 35, three white, one black, all
identically dressed in Eisenhower jackets, old slacks
and no tie.
o On 38 trials the victims smelled of alcohol and carried
a bottle of alcohol wrapped in a brown bag (drunk
condition).
o 65 trials they appeared sober and carried a black cane
(cane condition).
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o In all other aspects, victims behaved identically in the
two conditions, and each victim participated in drunk
and cane trials. (There were more cane than drunk
trials because one of the teams of students ‘didn’t like’
playing the drunk victim).
o The models (white males aged 24 to 29) were all
casually, but not identically, dressed.
o There were four different model conditions used
across both drunk and cane victim conditions:
1. Critical area - early: the model stood in the critical area and waited until passing the fourth station before helping the victim (approximately 70 seconds after the collapse).
2. Critical area - late: the model stood in the critical area and waited until passing the sixth station before helping the victim (approximately 150 seconds after the collapse).
3. Adjacent area - early: the model stood in the adjacent area and waited until passing the fourth station before helping the victim. (approximately 70 seconds after the collapse).
4. Adjacent area - late: the model stood in the adjacent area and waited until passing the sixth station before helping the victim. (approximately 150 seconds after the collapse).
o When the model intervened, he helped the victim to a
sitting position and stayed with him for the remainder
of the trial.
o There were two observers who recorded a variety of
observations.
o Observer One:
o Race, sex, location of every rider seated or standing in
the critical area.
o Total number of people in the carriage.
o Total number of people who came to assist the victim.
o Race, sex and location of every helper.
o Observer Two:
o Race, sex and location of every passenger in the
adjacent area.
o Time when help was first offered.
o Both observers noted any comments made by nearby
passengers and also tried to elicit comments from a
passenger sitting next to them.
• Results
o Passengers gave 78% of the victims spontaneous help
and in 60% of the cases, victim was helped by more
than one person.
o The cane victim was helped on 62 out of 65 trials
(95%)
o The drunk victim was helped on 19 out of 38 trials
(50%)
o 90% of passengers who helped the victim were male
o On 60% of the total trials where help was given (i.e. 81
trials), more than one person offered help.
o Race made no significant difference to the helping
behaviour but there was a slight tendency for same-
race helpers in the drunk condition
o 64% of the helpers were White
o The quickest help came from larger groups. This
showed no diffusion of responsibility.
o In 21 trials out of the grand total of 103, a total of 34
people left the critical area, mostly when the victim
was drunk.
o The model intervening at 70 seconds was more likely
to lead to help from other passengers than when the
model intervened after 150 seconds.
o Number of bystanders provided no evidence for
diffusion of responsibility.
o Some passengers moved away from critical area
(21/103)
o More comments made in drunk trail.
• Conclusions
o An ill person is more likely to receive help than a drunk
person.
o Men are more likely to help another man than women
are.
o People are slightly more likely to help someone of
their own ethnic group, especially when victim appears
to be drunk.
o No strong relationship was found between size of
group and likelihood of helping.
o Piliavin et al proposed a Cost-Reward Model to explain
people’s responses to an emergency situation.
o He suggested that helping is motivated by a selfish
desire to rid oneself of an unpleasant emotional state
rather than being a positive altruistic model of helping.
o Helping a victim is based on the level of emotional
arousal and the result of a cost/benefit analysis.
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• Ethical Issues
o Informed consent wasn’t taken as the participants did
not know they were part of a study.
o Participants were deceived and could not be
debriefed.
o Their right to withdraw was invalidated as it was a
field experiment.
o Emotional harm may have taken place as they must
have felt hurt about the victim’s condition.
• Strengths
o This study was a field experiment and hence has a high
ecological validity.
o The sample size was large and hence has a high
generalizability.
o Behaviour was not artificial as it is in a natural
environment and increases validity and had no demand
characteristics.
o Both qualitative and quantitative data was acquired.
• Weaknesses
o The study lacked controls hence had a low reliability,
making it hard to replicate.
o For this reason, a causal relationship could not be
established.
• Issues and Debates
o Application to everyday life: to educate people about
bystanders’ intervention
o Individual and situational explanation: This study
supports the situational side of the debate.
o Cultural biased
4.3 Yamamoto et al. (chimpanzee helping) • Title: Chimpanzees’ flexible targeted helping based on
an understanding of conspecifics’ goals.
• Year: 2012
• Psychology being investigated:
o Altruism: willingness to do certain things to others even though it has a disadvantage to yourself
o Pro-social behavior: any action or behavior that has the intention of helping others
o Instrumental helping: help and care based on the cognitive appreciation of the need or situation of others
• Background
o Humans extensively help others altruistically, which plays an important role in maintaining society.
o Other animals engage in helping, but more often at the request of other conspecific.
o The ability to offer targeted help to members of our own species relies on the ‘theory of mind’ ability.
o Some recent studies show that some primates (other than humans) have the capacity for helping and food sharing without direct benefit to them.
• Aims
o To investigate whether chimpanzees have the ability
and flexibility to help another chimpanzee depending
on its specific needs.
o The research team had noted that the chimpanzees
seldom help others without being asked and the team,
wanted to investigate this too.
• Procedure
o Research Method: Laboratory experiment.
o Experimental Design: Repeated measures.
o IV: ‘Can see’ and ‘cannot see’ conditions.
o DV: Results of can see and cannot see conditions &
proportion of trial where the stick or straw was given
or not given
o Sample: 5 Chimpanzees named Ai, Cleo, Pal, Ayumu
and Pan. They were socially housed at the Primate
Research Institute at Kyoto University. They were
paired wit a kin: Ai (mother) and Ayumu (juvenile); Pan
and Pal; Chloe (not tested in experimental condition)
and Cleo. All pairs had shown tool-giving interactions in
previous research and were labeled as experts at the
tool-use tasks used in this study
o Sampling Technique: Opportunity
o In the first condition, the potential helper chimpanzee
was able to see the other’s tool-use situation, in the
second situation, they could not see.
o The chimpanzees were recorded on video camera and
this was used to produce quantitative data - the
number of correctly targeted offers per condition. The
video also captured the behavior of the chimpanzees.
o Study approved by Animal Care Committee at Kyoto
University
o Paired chimps were tested in adjacent experimental
booths measuring 136 x 142 cm and 155 x 142 cm;
both 200 cm high
o A hole measuring 12.5 x 35 cm and 1 m above the
floor was in the panel wall
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o Experiment was designed so that it required the chimp
to select and transfer an appropriate tool to a
conspecific partner so that the partner could solve a
task and obtain a drink of juice as a reward.
o Recipient chimp could not reach any of the tools in the
adjoining booth
o They could show that they wanted a tool by poking
their arm through the hole
o Helper chimp has to select a too form a box of 7
(straw, stick, hose, chain, rope, brush and belt) to help
their partner complete the task
o Before the experiment phase of the study, there were
8, 5-minute trials (one per day) that allowed the
chimps to explore the 7 items
o They were all trained to solve the problem presented
but no other training or shaping of behavior had been
conducted on them
o Chimpanzees were allowed to communicate
“naturally” without symbols or any form of artificial
communication techniques
First “Can See” Condition: o One chimp placed in a booth with a box of 7 objects o The other pair was placed in an adjacent booth and
could be seen o This chimpanzee needed to be given to obtain some
juice that was out of reach o There was a hole in the wall and the box was out of
reach for the other chimp but could put its arm through and request for a tool
o This chimp needed the stick first so that it could reach the juice and then the straw so that it could drink it
Cannot See” Condition: o Same set-up but wall was opaque o The chimp could stand up and see what the other one
required Second “Can See” Condition: o Repeat of the first one o To see whether the experimental order was having an
effect on object choice (not an order effect) o For the task to be solved either the straw or stick had
to be given o They could communicate freely during the task (earlier
studies had shown that they communicate using artificial symbols called lexigrams)
o Before the experiments there were 8, 5-minute trials
that allowed them to explore the 7 items freely. In 5%
of these the chimp passed a tool through the hole.
o A total of 48 trials for the “Can See” Condition and another 48 for the “Can not See” Condition
o The trial would begin when the chimp had the box of tools and end either when the juice was obtained or after 5 minutes if it wasn’t
o 2/3/4 trials per day all recorded on video cameras o An offer of a tool was counted when the helper
chimpanzee held out a tool toward the recipient chimp (did not exchange the tool)
o Only the first tool offer was used in analysis o Object offered was categorized in two ways: upon
request or voluntary o If the recipient took a tool without the helper
knowing, it was recorded as “no offer”.
• Results
First “Can See” Condition: o 90.8% of trials something from the box was offered o From these 90% came after the other chimp had
requested help o 4 offered the straw or stick first (Ai in 87.5% ; Cleo in
97.4% ; Pal in 93.5% ; Ayumu 78%) o Pan offered a brush first on 79.5% of her trials o This would show that they could distinguish between
potential tools and useless objects o When a stick was needed, stick was offered first o When a straw was needed, straw was offered first
“Cannot See” Condition: o 95.8% of trials something from the box was offered o From these 71.7% came after the other chimp had
requested help o 4 offered the straw or stick first (Ai in 89.4%; Cleo in
88.9%; Pal in 100%; Ayumu 93%) o Pan offered a brush first on 55.3% of her trials o Ayumu was the only chimpanzee to look through the
hole o In terms of offering the stick when the stick was
needed and the straw when the straw was need, it was 50/50 split
Second “Can See” Condition: o Only 3 chimps were tested (Ai, Cleo and Pal) o 97.4% of trials something from the box was offered o From these 79.4% came after the other chimp had
requested help o Stick or straw was most frequently offered first (Ai in
81.3% ; Cleo in 95.7% ; Pal in 100%) o They also gave the correct tool most often first.
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• Conclusions
o This study provides evidence for the chimpanzees’ flexible targeted helping based on an understanding of the needs or goals of another chimpanzee.
o When they could see what was needed they tended to select the most appropriate tool.
o They still seldom helped without a direct request.
• Ethical Issues
o Small number of animals
o Appropriate housing
o No deprivation
o No aversive stimuli
• Strengths
o High levels of standardizations increases it’s reliability
o High number of controls means high validity
o Repeated measures design ensures no effects of
participant variables on the study
• Weaknesses
o Low ecological validity because this situation would
not be feasible in real life
o Lacks mundane realism
o Low generalizability to other animals and animals in
the wild
• Issues and Debates
o Application: Generalizable to children in terms of
development and education about helping others.
o Nature vs. Nurture: Supports the Nature side.
WWW.
.ORGNOTES
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